Spring Cleaning

By HMA Team on May 17, 2021

I’ll let you in on a secret. I’m one of those people who is a complete overthinker, feel everything too intensely and most of all I need order in my life.

Some people call it obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) but I need to have everything in its place for calm to prevail. I just call it being neat. So, if your desk is full of Post-Its, you have piles of paper everywhere and GASP — unopened mail? I would go nuts.

Clutter is clutter and everyone hopefully has had some time during lock-down to put files away, do some shredding and give your financial life, and your desk, a fresh look.

But it’s easy to dismiss financial clutter as trivial.

After all, it seems to just sit on tables, in drawers, digital storage, and wherever else it ends up. That can create the illusion that the clutter in your financial life doesn’t really matter all that much.

But the truth is it does. Clutter in any part of our lives can influence our behavior and how we handle money. It can also overload our brains and drain our cognitive resources.

Why?

Because our brains naturally crave order. Without it, there are too many distractions, and we have difficulty processing information.

That can affect our short-term memory and fuel stress. When it does, impulsive financial choices usually follow.

That’s when we start to feel like we don’t really have much control over our financial lives. We feel dissatisfied and lose sight of our financial goals. Our dreams about how we’d like to be living feel more and more out of reach.

But it doesn’t have to be like this. Spring cleaning can restore order to your financial life and eliminate the toxic clutter. If we don’t, it can build up as quickly as the papers on our desk. It can cost us money, expose us to risk, and stall the progress we want to make toward our financial goals.

Some simple spring cleaning can put an end to that.

Of course, clutter isn’t always easy to see. And getting started can feel overwhelming. That’s where HMA can help.

HMA can bring a fresh perspective that shines a light on the financial clutter and help you see where to start. We can also help you create better ways to organize your financial life while devising strategies to help you create the financial future you want. That’s HMA!